Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe has served Crescent Hill since 1998. Its latest change is Sunday service: owner Libby Loeser says the bakery and cafe, previously closed Sundays and Mondays, now open on Sundays, and customers have responded enthusiastically.
“Starting this year, we opened both the café and the bakery … on Sundays,” Loeser told The Courier Journal. The bakery and cafe are at 2868 Frankfort Ave. The business was founded by Bob Hancock and Kit Garrett in 1998.
Loeser bought Blue Dog in August 2023. The Courier Journal report says about 70% of the menu consists of year-round staples, with the rest changing seasonally. Loeser also said the bakery makes its offerings from scratch in-house.
A Menu Built on Staples and Seasonal Surprises
The cafe’s table service runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and the business is closed Mondays, according to The Courier Journal. The operation also includes counter service and coffee, alongside the cafe and wholesale bread deliveries.
That wholesale side has long been part of Blue Dog's identity. The bakery's own site states that since 1998, it has been crafting European-style breads and pastries, a tradition that predates Loeser's ownership but one she has carried forward. Per earlier reporting from LEO Weekly, the bakery's staff has included up to 35 employees spread across front-of-house, kitchen, bread, and pastry roles.
Frankfort Avenue’s Mixed-Use Setting
The Frankfort Avenue Business Association describes the corridor as a culinary hub with more than 30 locally owned restaurants. The National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Crescent Hill Historic District describes Frankfort Avenue as a mix of residential, small-scale commercial and institutional uses.
Looking Beyond Louisville for Growth
Loeser has also pointed to wholesale and retail as areas ripe for expansion. “A huge place for us to grow is wholesale and retail,” she told the alt-weekly, a comment that included the possibility of selling Blue Dog products outside Louisville. A separate account from Louisville Hot Bytes reported that Blue Dog breads had already landed in some fine-dining establishments in Indianapolis, with the business working to secure more accounts there.
Blue Dog’s current chapter began when Loeser bought the business in August 2023. She has continued to develop its cafe, counter-service and wholesale operations.
LEO Weekly’s 2023 review described cafe service Tuesday through Saturday, with counter service starting at 7 a.m. Blue Dog now serves cafe customers Tuesday through Sunday, reflecting the addition of Sunday hours.
